DENVER – Veteran or kid, pitcher or position player, Marcus Stroman hopes his Blue Jays teammates are with him on this one.

After getting the loss (and zero run support) in his team’s fifth consecutive defeat and ninth of the past 10 here on Saturday night, it wasn’t sitting well with the fiery right-handed starter.

“I’m a winner,” Stroman said after the 4-2 defeat to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. “I hate losing. I hoped every person in this clubhouse hates losing as much as i do. We have a losing atmosphere right now and it’s not fun.”

With a record of 21-37, the Jays are 17.5 games behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees. They’ve lost all five games of a six-game road trip that concludes here Sunday and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stay positive.

On Saturday, Stroman gave up three runs on four hits in the first inning, not one on a pitch he would take back.

On the other side of the plate, the Jays managed just two hits until a mini rally in the ninth fell short following a Justin Smoak solo home run and a Danny Jansen RBI double. Offensively, they were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Smoak says that most are trying to keep a brave face through the struggles, though as the losses continue to pile up, surely that’s difficult to do.

“Honestly, it’s more of keeping your head down and keep going,” said Smoak, whose solo shot was his 12th homer of the year. “It’s definitely not easy to lose, especially with the work we put in. You want it to start showing at some point.

“Offensively we’re just giving them easy outs. We have to come up with a plan to have better at-bats.”

For the most part, runs have been scarce, however. On Saturday, the Jays were held to two or fewer runs for the 22nd time this season, the most in the American League. Of 13 Stroman starts, seven of them (including the latest) saw the offence put up zero runs while he was still on the mound.

Smoak says that the rookie-heavy lineup is for the most part handling the adversity well, with a keenness and work ethic designed on improving.

“These guys have been great,” the veteran first baseman said. “They ask questions. They want to get better. We’ve got some really good young players. Once they start knowing they’re really good, I think it’s going to be different.”

Stroman, who allowed all three of his earned runs in the first inning, felt he was unlucky. Six of the seven hits the Rockies dinged him for were of the ground ball variety.

“I was good all night,” he said. “That team’s unbelievable. They didn’t hit a ball into the outfield all seven innings. I put the ball on the ground exactly like i wanted to do and that first inning they just found some holes.

“At the end of the day I think we could have had a converted double play to get out of the inning.”

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